Richie Ramsay’s victory in South Africa a huge boost for Scotland’s golfers

“Richie has been brought up with players like Andrew McArthur, Eric Ramsay, George Murray and Lloyd Saltman and this win can only be good news,” said his coach, Ian Rae, who is also the Scottish Golf Union national coach. “They must be thinking: ‘It’s great that Richie’s done that but we can do exactly the same.’ We need role models at the top, we need people to be doing well and now that’s starting to happen.”

Of that lot only McArthur has a European Tour card and there are still issues in making the transition from top amateur to successful tournament professional. Ramsay is the exception rather than the rule and it would be a mistake to give this success holy grail status.

It will move Ramsay up probably around 100 places in the world rankings today from his pre-tournament spot of No.240. That won’t be good enough even to get a start in any of the four 2010 major championships and there are still no Scots in the world’s top 100 far less the top 50 who are eligible to play in all the majors. None of the world team amateur championship winning Scots of a year ago, moreover, has a solid foothold on the top tour yet.

But it is a huge step in the right direction. “It’s not going to make a great deal of difference to his schedule this year because he was already in everything, but the big thing is that he knows he is going to be playing the whole of 2010 and now 2011 and he can absolutely build on that,” continued Rae. “He has some money building up towards the Ryder Cup, so that is the next thing we will be looking at, and why not?”

Ramsay, an Aberdonian who has just bought a flat in Edinburgh and who also spends a lot of time in Atlanta at the Golf Club of Georgia to hone his short game, is sitting at No.19 in the European Ryder Cup points list and is also No.2 on the Race to Dubai 2010 order of merit behind Spain’s Pablo Martin as a result of his €158,500 prize.

Ramsay is a passionate player who has ruffled a few feathers on the European Tour, and he has also shown a propensity to shoot himself in the foot. He became embroiled with chief referee John Paramor during the Wales Open last year when he used an incorrect method to test for casual water, by pressing his foot down in the area close to where he dropped his ball, there were suspicions he may have unwittingly improved his lie.He insisted, however, that he hadn’t in a Saturday evening discussion that lasted several hours and no penalty was imposed.

Because of his determined nature he has also been particularly hard on himself and he has been speaking regularly in recent weeks to psychologist Bob Rotella whom Padraig Harrington credits for “helping me get out of my own way”.

“Bob’s been helping Richie quite a bit,” said Rae. “He’s been less tough on himself and he’s been setting his sights on winning. That’s been his focus instead of trying to make the cut and win some money. He’s been playing well and he’s much more positive.”

It is hardly a win that has come out of the blue. Ramsay is a proven winner highlighted in his amateur days by his victory in the US amateur championship that enabled him to rub shoulders the following year with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Harrington among others.

Two victories on the Challenge Tour in his first full season as a professional set him up for his rookie European Tour win this year when he secured his playing rights with a fourth-place finish in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and now the breakthrough victory.

A place in Colin Montgomerie’s European Ryder Cup team for Celtic Manor in October is certainly a tall order, but it’s not beyond him.